Monday, September 30, 2013

When I think of my dad, I remember him always looking down. Every time he walked anywhere, he looked down. Once I asked him why he did that. He said that you never find treasure (money) by looking up. It's always on the ground.

I've always loved the night sky. I like sunshine and blue skies. I like rainy skies. I enjoy snowy skies. But I L-O-V-E being out at night, looking up at the moon and stars.

The other night was a beautiful early autumn evening. After a walk with my husband, we sat out on the patio enjoying a fire in the chiminea. We talked and immersed ourselves in the beauty, peace and quiet of the evening. I put my head back to look up at the stars. Unexpectedly there was a shooting star with quite a long tail. About five minutes later there was a second one. It was magical. What a gift!!!

I guess there are as many definitions of "treasure" as there are people defining it. Dad found his treasure by looking down. I found mine by looking up.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Last week I wrote about power, darkness and light. It occurred to me that this is true on a spiritual level also.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, we find ourselves in darkness. It could be because of a sudden death, a loss of a job, a catastrophic loss of a limb, a loss of our home. It could be a chemical imbalance. It could be something a little less drastic than that, but which still feels devastating to us.

At these times we need to go within and access our personal power. We are strong, powerful individuals. We have to remember that and hold onto that power.

Just as my husband went to the basement to get flashlights, we need to go within to find our inner light. We need to remember all the wonderful things that we have and be grateful for them. And we need to hold onto the knowledge that the "power" WILL come back on... eventually.

Monday, September 16, 2013

The other night our power went out. When there's an electrical storm, I kind of expect it. I'll light one candle, get out flashlights, gather other candles and make sure there are matches and /or lighters handy... just in case. But this time was different. There was no storm, no high winds. It was a hot, muggy night with a sliver moon and beautiful stars out. Totally unexpectedly, everything went dark. I'm talking D-A-R-K!!! Since I was not prepared, it was difficult getting around. My husband found his way into the basement to retrieve flashlights so we could at least function.

We went outside to see if it was just our problem. It was not. EVERYWHERE was completely dark. No lights, no tv, no computer, and NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! As I mentioned before, it was a hot, muggy night. Even though it was long after dark, it was in the 90s and was probably at least 90 percent humidity.

Since there was nothing we could really do, we decided to just go to bed early. While I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep, I started thinking about how people must have lived before all our technology. Early pioneers had no electric lights, tv, radio, computer, air conditioning, or even fans. And they had to wear so many clothes... especially the women. Women had to cook over open fires no mater what the outside temperature was because that was all they had. The men worked hard in the fields. There was no relief except sitting in the shade or going inside a stuffy house. In winter, the only heat radiated from a fireplace. The further away you were, the colder you got.

It made me feel so very grateful for all the conveniences I have. So I went to sleep, not complaining about the power being out and not having my air conditioning on such a hot, muggy night; but rather being grateful for all the conveniences I DO have and knowing the power would come back on... eventually.

Monday, September 9, 2013

In the last seven months I've lost my mother-in-law, my brother, a cousin and most recently a brother-in-law. It's obviously given me reason to think about death, dying and about life.

Years ago my dad told me that when people mourn it's a selfish act. He said that if we truly believed what our religions teach us, we'd be happy for that person because they'd be in heaven. We mourn because WE'RE going to miss them. He was right. Mourning is a selfish act.

I believe there are a couple different reasons for mourning. First because we're going to miss the person. Second because we have regrets.

There's not much we can do about missing the person. We're human and we WILL miss our loved ones. We can find peace because we know "they're in a better place", or maybe because we know they have no more pain. But we'll miss seeing them, touching them, talking with them.

As far as having regrets goes, we CAN do something about that. We can start right now treating our loved ones... and all people for that matter... with love, respect, kindness and compassion. If we start doing that RIGHT NOW, maybe we can avoid that second reason for mourning.